I think in some respects this is true, but for some teams. In Sask v Cal this past weekend Sask showed off their Canadian talent in an enjoyable game for all, even if you're not a fan of either team. One of the posters on the globe and mail page says to look at Toronto and their canadian content which is poor. But in my opinion this is what makes you a good team in the CFL. You're only as good as your canadian players in a lot of respects. There is a large pool of american players who are great footballers, whether they adapt to the CFL game notwithstanding, and you can build a solid core of american players. But it comes down to drafting and developing the homegrown talent that can make u that much better. Teams like Toronto I think have focused on trying to get higher level american talent to build their team and thus their canadian content has disappointed. One of the things that worries me about my Bombers is how many draft picks they've traded away in recent years and also in the next couple yet to come.
One of the other problems I think is the way Canadian players are viewed. I think canadian players get pidgeon-holed into certain positions on the field and that leaves out a number of players that have played in the CIS or they are forced to play out of a position they've played the last number of years and don't adapt well. Running back is one of those spots where in recent years there are some canucks who have played running back in CIS or NCAA and may not be given a proper shot at the position but are instead asked to become fullbacks or specialized power backs for short yardage. John Cornish in Calgary for instance, though Joffrey Reynolds ahead of him is a good back, but if he gets hurt, do they turn to cornish or another american back? In Edmonton after Lumsden went down, they didn't go with McCarty as the primary back even though hes played well last year and this year when healthy and given his chances but instead went to Whitlock who was on the PR. And though Whitlocks played better as the season wore on, he was horrid his first few games and they still didn't play McCarty as much. If Mallett gets hurt in BC, do they use Jamal Lee or turn to another US back?
What I would like to see is the CFL and CFLPA work out a way to get an extra 2 spots on the PR for each team specifically for canadian players, like a developmental squad or "internship" if you will. They practice all season and learn with the idea they will be better suited to compete for a job the following year. I think this is a better idea when you consider if Ottawa comes on board in the next 2-3 years and you need to do a dispersal draft of canadian players, this would better position the teams to not have as large drop off in talent the following year.
The other thought I have is to further expand rookie camp and training camp rosters to include more CIS players, give them the opportunity to have CFL coaching and pointers on what they need to work on when they return to their CIS teams for their seasons.
Thoughts? Other ideas? Anyone think the only way is to just decrease the ratio?
First of all its the CFL who must take responsiblity for the developement of Canadian Talent, starting at the minor level and junior and CIS, No where is this more evident than in Naylors Toronto, The U.of T Blues practicly dont even exist. Currently the cfl draft automaticly shut,s out all CIS qb,s - and many others who do not get noticed by ? Central scouting? The History of Canadian football and the hiring of U.S. players go hand in hand,initially the Top U.S players played in Canadian leagues. But if Canadians in Canadian football have fewer roster spots, then the CFL will cease to be a Truly Canadian league, and will fold ! because NO One really cares about NFL cuts imho
I'm not going to agree or disagree, this topic will always be there. What bothers me in this country is the insistance on spending money hand over fist on hockey arenas everywhere instead of using money for bubbling fields. Hockey is a great game but it's expensive for a lot of parents. Bubbling fields in the winter allowing more soccer and football and lacrosse should be done more, you don't have to learn how to skate and it opens up more possibilities. As long as Canada insists on hockey, hockey, hockey, football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse and soccer will continue to be second class citizens. So Canadian communities only have themselves to blame.
Now fortunately we have a great trophy to win in this country that doesn't require a kid to learn how to skate. It's unfortunate that baseball, basketball and soccer don't have the same, lacrosse as well although the Mann Cup is there.
Another issue that could be debated is exactly how should a professional league that is "Canadian" operate. In football and the CFL for example, is it fine as it is now with the ratio, should there be more, should there be less, and should the ratio change from year to year depending on what inside CFL coaches and administrators think? Who knows. But it makes for lively debate and I don't take any exception to an article like this by Naylor, hey at least we aren't talking hockey of which there is just far, far too much of in this country. We need to encourage more kids to take up sports besides hockey.
Yes wolverine, more Canadian spots for sure is the way to go. If you make less Canadian spots, this just probably discourages more kids from trying to get better and play football as there is no chance to play a bit of pro after college. I know one parent of a kid who played CIS basketball and was an all-star but said they wish they had of encouraged their kid to play football as he probably could have played in the CFL after college for a bit and tried to win a great trophy like the Grey Cup. In basketball, there was nothing for the kid, not good enough for the NBA, got some feelers from German pro basketball league but nothing serious and that was a long ways away.
Let the CFL shine more in the years ahead becoming more and more a truly Canadian league, or let it die doing this. I would hate for the CFL to die and in doing so making less spots available for Canadians, that would leave a very bad taste in my mouth.
Can out of time to edit. One final thought, fortunately I think the CFL is poised to become better and more teams in the future, I am very optimistic for the future of our league. Getting Moncton on board would be great as would Ottawa. We know MLB, NFL, NBA and the NHL doesn't really care much about Canadian cities except for maybe the NFL wanting Toronto money, but that's about it. Most of the rest of Canada they could care less about. Thank goodness we have a league that actually not only cares about the Moncton's out there, but respects the Moncton's out there.
1st they reduce the ratio to allow more American players
2nd they abolish the ratio, and sign only American players
3rd The CFL becomes like the NHL
For that reason I am against anything that tries to change the almost 2 to 1 ratio in favor of Canadian players. It’s alright for any non Canadian to come and play the game, but no one sidelines the Canadians. You might as well call it the Continental Football League. Any change that favors the Yanks will doom the CFL as we know and love it. Sure it puts limits on the talent pool (for now) and any chance of adding more teams to the league (which has the negative consequence of reducing the talent pool anyway in favor of expanding the CFL market), but to change it could ruin everything.
too much of a risk most CFL fans aren’t willing to take. I’d rather put up with how things are now, then try to expand the talent pool at the chance of losing the league I love for good.
no, no, no! :twisted:
I agree, and there could be more expansion on the horizon after that (maybe Alaska? not likely but no one else is going there, and the NFL says it wants Toronto when it doesn’t really, so why can’t the CFL turns heads and say the same for Alaska? just a thought), but if not, the CFL will be great no matter what.
MLS is interested in Canada, just to point that out, but I, as most people on here, doubt it will survive for long.
True back, MLS "cares" because they see opportunities here for soccer specific stadiums maybe moreso than in the US for a few reasons, to copy the TFC model that other cities in Canada could maybe relate to, being a Canadian city as such. But I don't think they care that much, too many Canadian teams means they look desperate as you know they would rather have as many American teams as possible
I agree 100% Wolverine29 and think your idea about having 2 Canadian slots on the PR is absolutely brilliant. What a great way to boost the developement of Canadian players and it only costs $2000 a week! :rockin: :thup:
I somewhat disagree, Earl. If you lowered the ratio (not eliminate it), you would still have spots available for Canadian players. The recent Bret Anderson signing in BC recently illustrates how thin Canadian talent is streched currently. As for kids playing the sport, the actual ratio of Canadians to Imports used to be higher (much higher depending on how far back you go) and yet the game is played more by more kids, in more schools per capita than ever before.
I suppose the reason Canadian content is thin is that Americans or imports are allowed to play in the first place. This directly puts Canadians up agains't the better trained/talented Americans in training camp. If no Americans were allowed, then the situation might be more equal.
Now one of the problems maybe is that Canadians view playing for the money in the CFL differently than Americans. Maybe many Canadian CIS players or Canadians that have American scholarships know they aren't going to make the dream money in the NFL so right after their college days are over, they go into careers rather than spend time playing in the CFL as the money isn't good enough in their minds even if playing for the Grey Cup would be nice, they decide to get into their careers pronto and skip the CFL. I don't know if that's true but it's something the CFL should look into and if that's the case, and the money will be what it is in the CFL, then the league will have an argument with the players association why they should decrease the number of mandatory Canadian positions arguing there just aren't enough talented Canadians available to play, they are choosing to forego the CFL in other words.
The CFL should do, if they haven't, a in depth survey of CIS players, and NCAA Canadians, and find out what's going on in their heads as to playing in the CFL after their college careers are over and the NFL isn't going to happen.
I agree with your ideas, and hopefully such training will give Canadian players an extra boost in value that will make them more attractive to use if their American counterpart goes down.
Another idea is to use that rule in the NFLE, where each team has to have a certain amount of Canadian players (like 1 or 2) for every down, possibly for certain positions although that mite be too much, if that doesn’t already happen.
don’t forget to include players from the CFJL (which IMO could be a key in developing Canadian talent) and NCAA Canadians in that mix as well.
Agreed, CFL needs to focus more on home grown talent, and if it’s weak they need to do more to enhance it.
That's the thing, it's weak because there is a comparator, the American player who the teams get up here and fill the rosters to the max that they are allowed. If it was all Canadians then you don't have that comparator and not the weak compared with the Americans.
Look, the league isn't going to go to an all-Canadian lineup, just not going to happen. If anything it'll probably go the other way with perhaps some incentive for a Canadian qb position. Articles can be written about teams complaining the Canadian talent is thin when injuries happen etc... The league can try and address this someway, somehow but in the end, you need as much depth in the Canadian content you can get, how you draft is important and what players are available, just the way it is.
Maybe a rival Canadian league should start up using all Canadians and try and lure the Canadians on CFL teams over with pay, whatever and then they get to challenge for the Grey Cup. That would be neat.
Yes, I thought of that later yesterday, players in the junior leagues that may develop into talents with an extra year or 2 of CFL level coaching.
I like having Canadian content. If it went to all american players, the next thing to go are the unique Canadian rules I think. But I doubt a league of all Canadian players would hold sufficient interest over the long term. If you want all Canadian players, you can watch the CIS. But one of the things that I see coming maybe is that with an expansion draft say for Ottawa, the argument is made that with each team having to give up a NI or two to the expansion team there is not enough Canadian talent to re-supply each of the teams, so they remove a NI roster spot. The only other thing I would look at is maybe broadening the definition of a NI to include players that have Canadian citizenship but may have spent part of their lives playing football outside Canada. Seems like there have been a player or 2 the last few years who don’t quite fit the definition of a NI. I think that’s what happened with Zac Carlson who had to apply to be recognized as Canadian and didn’t get into the draft and was instead relegated to a supplemental draft.
“According to league rules, anyone who plays organized football outside Canada before age 17 is an import, no matter what his passport says. And anyone who never played organized ball outside Canada before 17, or who spent at least five years of their childhood in Canada, is a non-import.”
Some teams are just better at scouting out the Canadian talent than others. There are kids all over this country who have the talent and skill to play professionally. I look at like, if Canadian guy like Rob Bagg is out there, falling through the cracks and not getting drafted, who else are we missing? I would love to see an emphasis on canadian QBs and developing them.
The status quo is fine and doesn't need fixing. Artificial shortage problem is a natural result of import ratio protecting excess Canadian jobs. There is no shortage of Canadians. Actually, few Canadians are as good as top Americans from a country with 10 times the population of Canada. No need for CFL to invest in junior teams because CFL teams already develop young recruits. Besides, fans don't want to pay higher ticket prices to train Canadians when cheap American talent is plentiful. Instead we should be more tolerant of inferior Canadian players and television shows.
I think that highlight part in your statement is already the case, and players that play in the league long enough are already consisted NI like AC in Montreal, or so I have heard. If that’s not the case, then maybe the CFL should look into that, I and most fans one imagines wouldn’t be opposed to having long playing import players becoming NIs after a certain length of time. Provided they stay in the CFL, and not jump to the NFL, and then come back up.
I think the official rule is bad, and needs to be changed to be flexible but still be firm in protecting the league.
I think it is hilarious and very telling that there are two different articles about the same subject…that have completely different conclusions. The edmonton journal and Leader Post in Regina run the powerful presence of Cancon that accounted for 44 of the 44 points scored last week and the Toronto newspaper about how weak the can con is in the LEAGUE.
Naylor heard complaints…we all know that is coming from the Argos who are the weakest team in terms of canadian content…and as a result they are the weakest team in the league (I know I use"…"way too much. I also don’t use brackets or parenthesis very well either). However, it is not the case for the whole league which is what he states.
It just goes to show you that the Toronto media is a cancer for the CFL in Southern Ontario and it affects the rest of the country and the league as well. To me that is the biggest hurdle to the league in S. Ontario. If we could fix that nonsense it would start to grow in Toronto and Hamilton once again. As long as they bash absolutely everything about this league, all the time, the common joe will read it and believe it and not give the league a chance.
The Toronto media is embarrassed that their own team doesn't know what they are doing, I suppose some might say. The fact is, if the situation was reversed and the Argos did have a good team with solid Canadians, maybe the article might be different. Look, I wouldn't pay too much attention to articles and I don't think joe blow out there reads too much anyways. Mot joe blows already write the CFL off as some sort of washed up version of a CBC program that isn't worth watching because it's Canadian to begin with. There is little hope for these sorts anyways. They wouldn't have a clue what Cancon even means, nor do they care.
“It just goes to show you that the Toronto media is a cancer for the CFL in Southern Ontario and it affects the rest of the country and the league as well.” :thup: a recent airing of the tv shoe the “Reporters” had each “guest” taking turns bashing the CFL, Of all things the overtime game between Sask and Calgary , (witch was one of the best games ever) and One of these"reporters" goes ga ga over going to a college game in the U.S. and sitting on wooden planks , cheering for a team thats been crap for 20 years :roll: Is proof to me that the Media in T.O. is a total wh…! BTW T.O. placed last in Canada compared to other Canadian cities, Maybe its not the Argonauts who S… But T.O. and its Media!!!
:thup: